


A Dangerous Place to Nap

by LizRambler



Series: Sleepovers [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Sleepovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21518074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizRambler/pseuds/LizRambler
Summary: Rose and the Doctor enjoy some downtime at Jackie's.(It takes place a few days after the Big Finish Audio Adventure Cold Vengeance.)
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Sleepovers [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531835
Comments: 18
Kudos: 92





	A Dangerous Place to Nap

The Doctor had passed out in Rose’s bed which wasn’t unusual, not anymore. Since regenerating, the Doctor was more often than not, taking his naps with Rose, in Rose’s bed. The only difference now was they weren’t on the Tardis. They were in Jackie Tyler’s apartment. Rose had gotten a change of clothes and started her laundry. The Doctor had hopped up onto her bed to see if it felt as soft as he remembered from his coma, bouncing a bit, to test it when she left. Soft snores had greeted her when she returned. Rolling her eyes, she ran a hand through his hair, fluffing it up a bit. He made a pleased noise in between snores and Rose snorted. He kept insisting he was not a cat… but when it purrs like a cat and cuddles like a cat, it might be a Timelord.

“Not like that my--” Jackie began from the living room. 

Stepping in to join her, Rose didn’t know what to do with her hands, she swung them a bit. “Not like that Mum.” 

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you old alien pervert. Come and have a chat with your poor old mum. Traveling all over who knows when. Well? Tell me all about your adventures.” Jackie was sitting on the battered white sofa, a glass of wine in hand. 

Rose wasn’t looking forward to the questions she would ask the closer she got to the bottom of that glass. She flopped down next to her mum. “Same old same old,” Rose began. “Lots of marketplaces, and junk planets for Tardis parts.”

“That thing is safe? He’s not lying about that, is he? Don’t want my only daughter being scattered across space and time,” Jackie was working herself up into a lather.

“She’s fine. The Tardis would never let anything happen to us,” Rose said absently. 

“She?”

“The Tardis isn’t a thing, she’s a she,” Rose replied. 

“She, then,” Jackie subsided. “And where were you last?”

“Erm,” Rose hedged. The last place, the very last place they had been was a beach in California. They had gone straight there from Enyo. The planet had been treating the ancestors of an ancient Martian race (Ice Warriors) like the help. Rose and The Doctor had sorted out a mad Ice Warrior than taken a human Lorna home to sort out the inequalities. The Doctor had teased her about her social justice warrior bent while standing side by side with her in the negotiations. He kept shooting her these looks and Rose couldn’t decide if he was giving her a once over because he was proud or interested. A recent visit to Sarah Jane had her all muddled about it. “Nowhere special. Just Santa Monica in the 1980s. The Doctor got involved with this roller derby ring. He had to skate for days. S’why he’s exhausted.”

“And where were you?” Jackie asked, “Did you meet any stars?”

Rose plopped down onto the sofa next to her mum. “Yeah, met a few. I was on the beach. Someone called Ted Shackleford and I got into a surfing competition with a few people from that old soap Dallas. Ted, he almost got eaten by this shark! I had to rescue him. He was so embarrassed about it that he bought me an ice cream.” Rose laughed as her mum’s eyes grew wide. “Do you know him? He was fit,” Rose added.

“He was fit. Your nan loved that show he was on, Knots Landing. And you rescued him from a shark, my Rose! My Rose almost getting eaten by a shark all on her own and himself skating himself silly.” She chuckled. “What did Mr. Nibs think of your new friend?”

Rose shrugged. The Doctor had not been surprised when he came back and Rose had been invited to an industry party. Laughing, he had gone as her plus one and whispered gossip about everyone at the party into her ear. Ted had been a bit put out but she’d saved his life, so… “Alright, he came back to tell me he’d one some trophy and I bought him an ice cream to celebrate.”

“Skating wore him out? He’s always got energy, that one.” Jackie looked into Rose’s room to the snoring Timelord.

“Oh, we had been on an adventure before the skating. He doesn’t sleep every night. Reckon he’s overdue for a nap. Leave him. Tell me about you.” Rose diverted her mother away from the Doctor. If she ever found out they slept together without sleeping together, Rose would never hear the end of it.

Jackie stood up. “I’ll get us a nice plate of biscuits and some tea. Then I’ll tell you all about your cousin Mo’s new cat.”

“Brilliant,” Rose said with false cheer. Under her breath, she murmured, “can’t wait.” Pulling out her phone, she texted Sarah Jane a hello, careful not to mention the last meeting since it was in Sarah Jane’s future. ‘Hey Sarah, on Earth. Text if there’s an invasion. Xoxo.’

A message came in immediately, ‘Just a little one. Under control. X.’

Rose snorted, closing her phone before her mother saw the picture she had set as her background. It was the Doctor sleeping with the tiny blue bows tied into his hair. Just in time, her mother handed her a cup of tea. “Now you’ve done it. He’ll be in here in a moment once he smells the tea.”

“Well, then let’s eat all the hobnobs before he gets ‘em,” Jackie whispered.

“Did someone say hobnobs?” The Doctor asked from behind where Jackie sat on the sofa. She jumped nearly spilling her tea. 

“Should put a bell on you,” Jackie growled.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “For the last time, I am a Timelord, not a cat. Tea?”

“Pot’s just done. Still enough hot water in there for you. Fetch it yourself,” Jackie grumbled, nerves still shaky. 

Perky, the Doctor went nosing around the kitchen. She’d bet a fiver that he’d return with a jar of jam if Jackie had any in. She turned to her own tea. Hot with a splash of milk, no sugar. She’d fix that with the sugary treats. The sofa sank as the Doctor squeezed himself in next to Rose, hip to hip, thigh to thigh and tossing an arm around her casually. “Well, that was a nice kip. Ready for more adventuring?” he asked, an open jar of jam in his left hand. 

“No, you’re staying the night,” Jackie said.

He caught Rose’s eye. Rose grinned at his panicked look. “Sorry Doctor, you were only out for twenty minutes. Nowhere near long enough to get my laundry done and catch up with my mum. I was telling her about that bloke from Knots Landing.”

“Rose saved a soap star from a shark! How brilliant is that?” the Doctor bragged. 

“Yeah, I’m a hero. All I did was pull him up onto my board,” Rose demurred. 

The Doctor wasn’t having it. “Not just anyone would save a person from a shark. You probably didn’t hesitate for a second.” He smiled warmly. Rose felt her cheeks heat up. 

“That’s my girl,” Jackie said also beaming.

“Stop it you two or I’ll get a big head. Tell me about Mo’s cat.”

“Yes, I want another nap, tell us,” The Doctor added as he reached out and grabbed four biscuits stuffing them into the jam jar before eating them altogether, noisily. 

Jackie ignored him used to his mouth by now and launched into an entertaining story about a cat that moved into Mo’s when she was out. And then it was on to the neighbors and the latest gossip. Rose let it all wash over her. Her mum had adventures too, if of the more mundane variety, and they were no less entertaining for it. The Doctor feigned disinterest until Jackie mentioned Keisha. The Doctor liked her and asked a bunch of pertinent questions about one of Rose’s best mates and Keisha’s brother Jay. He beamed when he heard Keish was in school. In between, Rose tended to the laundry, always plopping herself back down in the same spot.

Rose eased more and more of her weight onto the Doctor as the night drew on. He didn’t mind. But when mum got caught up in recapping Coronation Street, the Doctor seemed to sink back into the sofa until Rose almost fell backwards into his lap.

“Well, he’s gone again,” Jackie observed, amused.

Rose smirked. “He goes until he drops. Plus now he’s full of tea… and all your jam, sorry.”

Jackie stood up. “I hide an extra jar under the sink now. No worries. Besides, it is after midnight,” she said as she glanced up at the clock in surprise. “Alright sweetheart, don’t leave until after breakfast.” She ruffled the Doctor’s hair. “No shagging under my roof.”

“Mum,” Rose groaned. “How many times?”

“No times, missy. Goodnight love.” Jackie hugged Rose and disappeared into her room.

Rose let out a long breath. “We’ve never…”

“Nope, not the way your people do it,” the Doctor murmured, sleepily.

Rose glanced over at him. The tiniest slivers of his brown eyes were showing through the lids. She blinked. “What?”

“Never done the…” He waved a hand vaguely lewd way before dropping it heavily to the armrest. “IT. We’ve never done it the way your people do it.”

The Doctor slipped the arm along the back of the sofa down and around her middle, gently tugging her in for a cuddle. Rose stopped him. A disgruntled noise escaped him, his eyes opening a bit more to watch her.

“Yeah, no, not until you explain yourself mister,” Rose demanded.

The Doctor rubbed both hands down his face, managing to sit up. “Um, hm. We’ve um, that is to say… We…” His cheeks were turning pink. “When you and I were in my head and you kissed me…”

“OH MY GOD,” Rose shouted.

The Doctor slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sh, sh, Rose! I don’t want to have this conversation in front of your mother!”

Rose pulled his hand off of her mouth, stood up and pointed at her room. The Doctor nodded, eyes wide and followed her in. She closed the door, locking it. “Talk.”

“I’ve told you before how telepathy is,” he dropped his voice to a whisper, “intimate for my people. You know that. You even...”

“Yeah, yes, you told me it was like coping a feel, not like the whole thing,” Rose hissed back, flapping her arms around. “You’re telling me that when I kissed you in there.” She tapped his hard head with her finger. That I--that we--that was IT.”

He was a tomato, his face was so red.

Rose flashed back on the overwhelming wave of feelings she had experienced. It had been lights and feelings and colors and amazing. “Oh. Ooooooohhhhhhh, I shagged you.”

“Thoroughly, completely, wonderfully, rotten,” he whispered back and it was the smuggest whisper she had ever heard. It made her crazy it made her… “Ow! Stop slapping at me!”

Rose smacked his chest. “You could have stopped. Warned me.”

He waved his hands around, hampered by the need to stay quiet. There was a noise like a thump or footsteps. They froze both putting fingers on lips. Rose’s heart was so loud. The Doctor’s breathing was a bellows in the silent room. Several tense seconds passed without incident. Rose gritted her teeth at him.

“I tried to warn you,” he whispered so low that Rose had to lean in to hear him. “You were hugging me and that was top banana, seriously.” She thwapped him. “I said your name and you snogged the daylights out of me, initiating IT. I was caught up in it then. Can’t stop IT then...”

Rose crossed her arms and turned away from him, embarrassed. “Oh my God,” she hissed over and over again. “I didn’t even ask…”

“To be fair, how would you know what to ask for?” the Doctor said in a more conversational tone. “How about a little telepathic hanky panky? Nope, no, not saying that again. Ugh, no. Rose…”

“You didn’t want IT,” Rose gasped. “Oh, no, I--”

He grabbed her arms and turned her around to face him. Rose dropped her head to her chin, burning with the horror of what she had done. The Doctor gave her a gentle shake. “Hey,” he said ducking his head until he caught her eye. “I didn’t say I didn’t want IT. Did it feel like I didn’t want IT?”

Rose looked away and he gave her the same gentle shake. She glanced up at him to see his brown eyes dark and warm, inviting, even. “I was just surprised as all,” he murmured, the corners of his mouth turning up. “Besides, wouldn’t have gone off without a hitch like it did if I didn’t on some level want IT very much.” His tone had grown husky, hitching on the word ‘want.’ 

He straightened up, letting her go and running a hand over his mouth. “Well, there, now it’s all out in the open.”

Rose processed. He reached out slipped his hands into her hair, smoothing it back. Rose relaxed. He wasn’t upset. “Wait, if you weren’t upset, then how come after you never brought it up? And you were being all hot and cold?”

The Doctor made a face. “I ah, didn’t know how to bring it up.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “I knew you hadn’t meant it to be THAT and I thought maybe it would be a and yes, yes, now I realize I was right, this would be a very weird conversation to have. Also, having it five feet from Jackie is not helping the awkwardness. Can we sit?”

Rose glanced over at the bed. She kicked off her shoes and hopped up, maneuvering herself so she was leaning against the headboard. He followed, taking his side. Again they were pressed against one another shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. She leaned against him, taking comfort from his strong frame. “I can’t believe that we--and I didn’t even realize that we--”

“Aw,” he puffed out a breath, “I once shook hands on a planet where that was considered a marriage proposal. We’re different species, Rose Tyler. Cultural misunderstandings are bound to occur.” 

“Cultural Misunder--Doctor I shagged you.” Rose gasped.

“Yeah,” he said, beaming at her, “you did. You really did. I haven’t done that in ten yonks.” He giggled and bumped her shoulder.

Rose rolled her eyes. “I am going to melt into a puddle of embarrassment. Right here. This is the day that I die of humiliation.” She felt a giggle bubbling up inside her own chest, lodged somewhere behind her sternum. “God, Doctor.”

He leaned his head down against hers, still giggling boyishly. “Think you might want to do it again? Someday?” he asked wistfully.

“I---shut up.” Rose hopped out of the bed and grabbed her pajamas. “I’m going to get changed. No shoes in the bed.” 

Merrily, the Doctor kicked off his shoes and shucked his jacket. Rose went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face, a lot of cold water on her face. She saw how hot and pink her cheeks were in the mirror and splashed her face again. She brushed her teeth as the idea sank down into her marrow. She had felt a fantastic sort of happiness after kissing him in his mind. Afterglow. Rose choked on toothpaste foam. That had been afterglow. More icy water was splashed onto her face. Nope. She couldn’t process it. Not now. Nope. No. Maybe never.

She climbed into the bed on her side. The Doctor had turned the blankets down for her and was watching her, head propped up in one hand. Rose turned the bed lamp off, unable to look at him without feeling little zings of heat all over her body. Oh, God.

His eyes were on her. She could feel them in the dark. Rose took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. As her heart rate calmed, she thought tomorrow her brain would have had enough time to digest all of this and tell her what to do next. Right now she was having a hard time not knocking him flat to the bed and snogging him senseless. She could still feel his eyes on her. “What?” she whispered.

“Thinking about it?” he whispered back.

“No, no way, nope nuh-uh, no,” she whispered.

“Yeah, me neither.”

Rose puffed out a breath. “Liar.”

“Mm,” he murmured. “Rose?”

“Yeah?”

He shifted and a warm arm was tossed over her middle. She was pulled back snuggly against his body. Rose’s muscles loosened. His breath was hitting her neck in even little puffs. Rose let her eyes flutter shut.

“We could do IT the way your people do it, sometime… if you want.”

Rose’s eyes snapped open. “Not here. Never here. Don’t even mention it here.”

“No,” he agreed. “I like this body. You like this body. Just got this body. She has a cricket bat by her bed, your mum.”

“And she knows how to use it,” Rose reminded him.

The silence stretched out between them. Rose’s eyes would not close. Blinking felt impossible. The Doctor had asked… He had… She was asleep. That had to be what was happening here. Because he would never ever say what he was saying while cuddling her in her childhood bedroom. She flushed.

“Would you want to though?” he asked, his voice vulnerable in the dark.

“Yeah.” Rose swallowed sure she would never sleep again. Every inch of her skin was sensitized to his. 

"Would you though?" he asked again.

“Yeah, I would… just not now.”

“Oh, Rassilon, no, not here, never ever,” he whispered back.

They burst into giggles. 

Jackie banged on the wall.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so there's one more after this for sure. We'll see how that one goes.


End file.
